A COURT issued arrest warrants for six officials over the deaths of scores of Muslim protesters who suffocated in army trucks almost two decades ago in the kingdom’s deep south.
The October 2004 incident, known as the “Tak Bai massacre”, remains one of the deadliest in the long-running low-level conflict between armed groups and the army in Thailand’s southernmost provinces.
Seventy-eight people suffocated when they were arrested and stacked on top of each other in Thai military trucks after gathering to protest at a police station.
The court in Narathiwat, in the deep south, on Thursday issued arrest warrants for six officials on charges including murder.
The court has sent a letter to parliament asking the speaker to hand over a seventh, a former southern army commander who now serves as a lawmaker with the ruling Pheu Thai party. — AFP
